Getting Back to Business

After the excitement of last weekend, I found myself getting behind in my research and my job.  Fortunately for me, I have caught up with my job's tasks this morning, so I have been able to relax a little bit.  Yesterday, I exhausted myself by waking up at 6am to score 11 final drafts of essays before lunch.  After lunch, I taught until 4:15 and then I prepared the next day's activities until 7pm when my brain could no longer function.  That was 13 hours of work!  Although lunch could be considered not work, it sort of is because we are urged to socialize with the students.  Already being exhausted by lunchtime, forcing a friendly conversation feels like work.

This morning I got enough sleep and paced myself well in and outside the class.  I think one affective factor to my exhaustion is feeling sympathy for my exhausted students.  We're hitting the midpoint of the summer program soon, and I can virtually see the workload on their shoulders.  I feel that my improved mood now contrasts with my students' moods, but it's not rubbing off on them.  In fact, they may have envied my cheerful attitude today.

By Friday, I should cleared enough time to get cracking on catching up on my research.  I'm currently reading through the least relevant part of a very relevant book, but I need to finish the book and read at least 2 other articles to get caught up.  I would also like to start interviewing some of my colleagues for practice.  I'd say that I haven't had this "can do" spirit for about a week, so it's good to feel motivated and I hope it lasts through the weekend.

In other news, thunderstorms have been rolling through Urasa last night and this afternoon.  A powerful storm last night cut the power from our campus for a few minutes.  The power returned at exactly 9pm when I make my daily Skype call to Jenevieve and Autumn.  Autumn seemed like she wanted to spend more time with me than usual, and that made me miss her even more.

For lunch today, the cafeteria surprised us all by serving bibimbap, a Korean dish.  Because the portions were big, I got my fill.  However, it induced my appetite and I've been hungrier than I have ever been since I arrived.  I got back to my dorm and finished off a package of cookies.  Before then, the bibimbap inspired conversations about Korea at the lunch table.  I had many enjoyable conversations about Korea, Korean food, and Seoul.  And then I felt very nostalgic about Korea.  I often had felt nostalgic about Japan when I was in Korea, but this was the first time that I felt that I preferred to be in Korea.  This feeling surprised me, however I am enjoying my time here.

Strangely, I had two separate conversations where religion became the topic.  Both were raised by students.  One conversation was about Shinto, Buddhism, animism, and atheism.  Another was about Mormons as one student is an ex-Mormon.

For me, today was a very satisfactory day.  A great complement to the very exhausting day yesterday.  I felt that I had accomplished an equal amount of work in both days.  Here's to the days ahead!

Below is a view from my office hallway looking towards the east side of campus.  The mountain in the background is Hakkai-san, which sounds like "Hawkeye" san.